Following the conviction of journalist Andrew Drummond in Pattaya Provincial Criminal Court this morning in case number 9819/2555, lawyers acting for David Hanks have indicated they will appeal, and ask for the sentence handed down to be increased as they believe the punishment of a four month suspended jail sentence suspended for one year is so lenient that it is 'manifestly inadequate'.

Hanks said today that in his opinion the punishment did not fit the crime, as Hanks is a man of good character with no criminal convictions whose good name has been sullied by totally false accusations.

The Court on convicting Andrew Drummond then jailed the disgraced journalist to a four month jail sentence, which was immediately suspended, and also imposed a monetary fine of THB 40,000 (GBP800).

Drummond who is the Thailand based correspondent of 'The London Evening Standard' previously had told the Pattaya Court that Thai laws, and codes of ethics of organisations such as the UK Press Complaints Commission, and the Editors Code of Practice do not apply to him.

The London Evening Standard has been asked for a comment on the issue of the PCC Editors Code of Practice, which according to it's website requires all employees, journalists and correspondents to follow London Evening Standard Code of Conduct.

Preliminary copies of the decision of the Court are reproduced below and a full translation will follow.